The Ultimate Guide To

MUSIC PUBLISHING
for

Electronic Music Artists

Part 1

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WELCOME TO THE
GLORIOUS WORLD OF
MUSIC PUBLISHING!
It really is glorious—music publishing is the to understand before delving into the more
business of songwriters and composers, intricate matters of music publishing. The
and there is money to be made here as a ensuing parts of our publishing guide will
songwriter/composer. delve into the more detailed and intricate
matters such as performance rights vs.
The problem in the electronic music world is mechanical rights, ASCAP vs. BMI vs. SESAC,
that most electronic music producers don’t contrasting international copyright laws, and
consider themselves “songwriters.” Of all much more. We want these guides to give
the genres in music, electronic dance music you all the knowledge you need to move
producers are unfortunately the least likely forward with your music business needs,
of the bunch to register themselves and their whether you are an established record label
songs in collection societies. It’s a part of the owner or a novice producer.
music business that often gets thrown under
the table when releasing and getting featured All of this knowledge will be crucial
on Beatport are foremost on your mind. If as Symphonic launches its publishing
you are composing your own tracks, there is administration service and its full licensing
money sitting out there in royalty collection program in the coming months.
societies that could be YOURS. When many
labels and artists first begin releasing music on
Beatport, iTunes and the works, the business
of publishing is often forgotten. Moving
forward, we want music publishing to be
right on the forefront along with your digital
distribution needs.

However, it’s not as straightforward as

it sounds. For starters, the “lingo” and
vocabulary of the publishing world can get
confusing, not to mention… what does
music publishing even refer to?

In this Part 1 of our publishing guide, we

explain the very basic essential definitions
and knowledge foundation that is important

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 WHAT DOES PUBLISHING Publishing is a vague word. In general,
when someone uses the word “publishing”
EXACTLY MEAN? in the music world, they are referring to the
ownership and control of the underlying
composition in a song.

THERE ARE TWO SEPARATE PARTS TO EVERY SONG RELEASED:

SOUND RECORDING UNDERLYING COMPOSITION

The musical sounds you hear in your The musical work embedded in the
ear played by instruments or electronic song represented by notes, melodies,
sounds in the form of a CD, vinyl, or chords, rhythms on sheet music paper
digital wav/mp3 etc. or a musical score.

1. The sound recording / master recording
A. In the licensing world, most often referred to
as the “masters” or the “masters side.”
B. Who owns it?
i. The performing artist(s) on a track.
ii. Can also be owned by the record label, depending on
the contract the label signs with the artists.
iii. Can also be owned by a producer if a producer is
involved in the enhancement of a track.
*NOTE: In today’s world, the vocabulary between the sound recording
world and the publishing world can be confusing since so many
musicians releasing music out there are both the songwriter and the
performer. For ultimate clarity, whenever discussing the “publishing”
world or anything related to the underlying composition, we use the
terms “songwriter” or “writer.”
The words in the boxes below go together (in no specific order).
Each box represents a separate ownership and a separate business.
2. The underlying composition, or “musical work
embedded in the sound recording.” (If you were to
write out all the notes — notes, melodies, chords,
rhythms and all — on sheet music paper, that is
the underlying composition. Every song has an
underlying composition… even if the songwriter
has never physically written it down)
A. In the licensing world, it is most often referred
to vaguely as the “publishing” or “publishing side.”
B. Who owns it?
i. The underlying composition is, by law, automatically
owned and controlled and protected under copyright by
the songwriter(s)/composer(s)/lyricist(s) upon the moment
of creation. (But to legally file for copyright infringement
the copyright must be registered with the copyright office.)
ii. If a songwriter signs a publishing deal with a publisher,
the underlying composition may then be owned in part by
the publisher, depending on the contract the songwriter
signs with the publisher.

SOUND RECORDING UNDERLYING COMPOSITION • If the songwriter has never signed a publishing
MASTER RECORDING contract with a publishing company, then that
MUSICAL WORK EMBEDDED IN
SOUND RECORDING songwriter does NOT have a publisher. He/she is
MASTERS
SONGWRITER unpublished. The songwriter then owns 100% of
PERFORMING ARTIST the underlying composition (if there were no other
ARTIST WRITER
songwriting collaborators writing the song with him!).
RECORD LABEL PUBLISHING Not every writer needs or wants a publisher. It only
MASTER SIDE PUBLISHER comes into play when registering the works in PROs
PUBLISHING SIDE & mechanical rights societies. Or if you become a big
and reputable enough songwriter.

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A QUICK
HISTORY LESSON Alright guys, come out of the digital 2000s
and into the early 1900s.

The concept of “publishing” started back Publishers therefore had the responsibility to
in the day when publishing meant printing register songs with all the necessary royalty
something out in tangible form and releasing organizations to collect all royalties from
it to the public for example, publishing a book, performances and sales of the song earned.
publishing a song on a piece of printed sheet
Fast forward to the digital age of the 2000s…
music that you buy in a store, or publishing an
Today you have singer/songwriters who
article in a newspaper.
perform and write their own songs. (Take
The clear separation of sound recording and Regina Spektor and the like.) You have big
underlying composition back in the old days of vocalist pop stars who collaborate with 1
the music business arose because the people or 2 hired professional songwriters (who
who were writing the lyrics and the music to can’t sing) to write a big hit song (Taylor
the songs were 99.9999% of the time NOT the Swift for the ever dreadful “I Knew You Were
performers as well. Frank Sinatra didn’t write Trouble”). You have a big hit pop star who
most of his songs. He just performed them can’t write and just sings the song that other
with that fabulous voice of his. professional songwriters write for him/
her (Rihanna). And then, here we have the
Why did publishers arise? Publishers arose as
explosion of electronic dance music / “EDM”
a lucrative business. These people said why
in underground and mainstream culture -
don’t we invest in these talented composers
electronic music “producers” who “produce”
and songwriters, give them some money
music on computers…the ultimate digital
upfront to write some great hit songs for me,
music writing. If you’re an electronic music
I’ll own 50% of the underlying composition
producer, you aren’t writing music on sheet
songs, and then with all my fancy connections
music paper with a pencil in one hand and a
I’m going to go sell these songs to the best
guitar in the other. You’re inputting sounds on
record labels and singers out there, get Frank
electronic computers and instruments. You call
Sinatra to sing these songs, then get the
your songs “tracks.” You’re releasing “tracks”
songs put in that new musical movie out and
via digital music distributors and record labels.
make some money off of these songwriters/
You call yourself a DJ/producer, an artist.
composers! The publishers were the outlet for
songwriters to get people to actually perform
their songs and bring them to the public.
If you were a songwriter back in those days
actually getting your music released on record
labels to the general public, you HAD to have
a publisher. Publishers were the route to
success and the only way you’d ever have
a chance at getting your music out there.

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But guess what…You’re a songwriter, too.
You are composing a song with melodies,
chords, rhythms, crazy sounds and all.
Though you never actually write anything
down with a pencil on a piece of sheet music
paper with treble clefs and sharps and flats
and A flat major chords, the music you are
creating on your electronic equipment has a
musical composition embedded in that sound
recording. And if you write that, you are the
owner of that underlying composition. If
your music is being played by other DJs (or
performed by you) in live clubs and arenas
and venues, played on internet radio like
Pandora, streamed on Spotify and Deezer
and the like, digitally downloaded in certain
nations worldwide, and much more, you as the
songwriter are owed various kinds of royalties
for the public performances and digital
downloads of your track.
In the electronic dance music world,
publishing – rather, ownership of the
underlying composition – is a topic that
has been largely ignored. (See http://bit.
ly/10Dac33). It’s probably because most
electronic dance music producers don’t
consider themselves “songwriters.” The word
“songwriting” conjures up images of a lonely
creative soul armed with whiskey, a ciggy and
a guitar, writing lyrics and melodies and minor
and major and augmented chords onto a piece
of crumpled up sheet music paper. Digital
Music News reported: “DJs are less likely than
performing acts to submit set lists [to PROs].
Only 35% of set lists were completed at UK
dance festival Creamfields 2011, and 15% at
Glade. Compare this to the predominantly
guitar-based Reading Festival, for which 90%
of set lists were completed.” Point taken!
The important thing for all electronic music
producers to realize is that they, too, are
songwriters. Most are both the songwriter and
the performing artist for each track they write.
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WHAT EXACTLY IS
A PUBLISHER?
So, you know now that “publishing” is a vague
word that most often in the music business
refers to the ownership of the underlying
composition in a song. A publisher is more
specific but can mean a variety of different
things in today’s world, depending on the
context. The word publisher most often
refers to a “publishing company,” a company
that partakes in publishing business for its
songwriter clients. Publishers are the ones
who deal with songwriters.
However, it is extremely important to note
that in today’s world, “publishing” does
not always involve a legitimate publishing
company because contemporary songwriters
don’t always have a publishing contract with
a publisher. As a matter of fact, the majority of
songwriters out there do not have a publishing
deal. A songwriter may have a publisher, or a
songwriter doesn’t have a publisher. Not all
songwriters have publishers.
Historically and still existent today (but
usually only with pretty major songwriters), a
legitimate publishing company is a company
that selects a writer for his/her merit, gives an
advance (could be $15,000, could be $150,000),
takes over ownership and control of about
50% of the writer’s underlying composition
copyrights, registers writers’ works in all
PROs and mechanical societies necessary
worldwide, and has a responsibility to exploit
those songs for licensing opportunities. A
true publisher owns a stake in a songwriter’s
compositions. They want to exploit the
songwriter’s compositions so as to generate
as much revenue as possible from them via
getting licensing placement deals for the song, etc.
Today, however, a “publisher” can mean many
things other than a legitimate publishing IF I AM A LABEL,
company. A “publisher” can refer to:
• A legitimate publishing company as described
AM I THE PUBLISHER?
above. Roles include:
» Usually gives songwriter an advance
» Takes over ownership of a % of the underlying No, you are not the publisher. If you claim
composition (standard is 50% but depends on yourself as the publisher to a licensing house,
the deal) and by default usually takes the same music supervisor or music store, you can get
percentage of any royalties yourself into big trouble.
» Registers writer with member account with
ASCAP/BMI Some labels dive into the publishing business
» Registering all writer’s songs (or selected songs) because they want to earn more revenue from
with ASCAP/BMI the songs they release. The major labels have
» Taking over mechanical rights administration or major publishing divisions (Warner Music
working with HFA to issue mechanical licenses Group has Warner Chappell Publishing)…
» Exploiting the songs by trying to get licensing You are only the publisher if you set up a
placements – these types of companies usually publishing company on/with/DBA as your label
have licensing departments that handle the to register the songs on your releases with the
pitching of the music performance rights societies.
» Collecting and distributing the royalty payments
» Giving any other third-party approval to use the
songs in any media
• A record label or a distributor sets up a “publishing
division” or “publishing administration” division
to simply do administrative work. No ownership of
WHAT EXACTLY DOES
underlying composition copyrights is involved; to earn
a return on the administrative work, they take a % of
THE COPYRIGHT
the publishing royalty revenue. Roles might include:
» If the songwriter doesn’t already have an
REFER TO THEN?
account with various PROs, this entity would
do it on their behalf or at least aid in the process.
» Register all songs on the releases (or selected Copyright is a vague word. In music, you can
ones per mutual agreement) with ASCAP/BMI and have the sound recording copyright, and then
any other PROs worldwide and mechanical you can have the underlying composition
societies. copyright. In law, copyright law refers to
» Collects and distributes publishing royalties to the intellectual property law. Copyright can mean
writers of the songs. ownership of anything! A sound recording, the
• A songwriter sets up his/her own “publishing underlying composition, a painting, a poem, a
company” in order to be able to collect the publisher’s novel, any piece of intellectual property!
share of the performance royalties at ASCAP or BMI.
That songwriter named Joe Smith registers a publisher
account with ASCAP as “Joe Smith Publishing” and
collects the publisher’s share of royalties.
If you are a songwriter and have never signed a
contract with a publisher, you own 100% of the
underlying composition.

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PUBLISHING IN REGARDS
TO LICENSING
Licensing, again, is a vague word and can
refer to many situations; in the most general
sense, music licensing refers to a copyright
owner granting an entity a license to use
their music in some way. For our purposes,
licensing refers to a) the public performance
of music in background music services; b) the
placement of music synchronized to a form of
visual media, known as sync licensing. Sync
licensing is the business of placing music in
film, television, commercials, trailers, video
games, etc.
The world of publishing and the world
of licensing, though somewhat separate,
are often intertwined because legitimate
publishers often control and have a say
in whether or not the songs they own a
percentage of get licensed. An integral part
of legitimate music publishing companies
is to pitch their songwriters’ music for sync
placement in film, TV, commercials, etc. —
these companies typically have licensing
departments. However, licensing is not a
matter left completely up to publishers.
In the licensing world, people who want
to use the music with visual media (music
supervisors, licensing houses, production
companies, etc.) need to know who the
owners of a given song are. They want to
know who the owners are because those
music supervisors need to gain approval
from ALL owners of a given song in order to
use that song in their film, TV show, trailer,
commercial, or whatever. They want to know
and will usually ask:
1. Who owns the masters?
2. Who owns the publishing?
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You should know now that these questions
also mean:
1. Who owns the sound recording?
2. Who owns the underlying composition?
So, if you want to get into the licensing
world and get your songs placed in film,
TV, commercials, etc., you have to have
the answers to these questions at all times.
And your licensing agents/representatives
pitching your music on your behalf will need
the detailed answers to these questions.
When licensing houses, music supervisors
etc. ask if the song or songwriter has a
publisher, they don’t care who is simply
administering the publishing and doing
the paperwork – they want to know if the
songwriter has a publisher who owns a
% share of the underlying composition
copyrights. Why? Because in order to get
a license to place that music in any film or
TV show or commercial, they have to obtain
approval and get a license from all owners
of a song – on both the masters side and the
publishing side.
In order to place your music in a film, TV
show, or any other visual media, those music
supervisors and related personnel need:
1. A master use license to have the right to
use the master/sound recording in the visual
media
2. A synchronization license to have the right
to synchronize the underlying composition
with the visual media
So in order to get both of these licenses,
they have to scramble to find who the
owners are of the sound recording and the
underlying composition.
AND THAT IS JUST
THE BEGINNING…

We know this was dense, but once you understand the information above,
you have the core foundation you need to begin collecting royalties and
getting your music placed in film, TV and the works.

In Part 1, we’ve discussed the very basic vocabulary of music publishing,

and led right into how music publishing and licensing are thoroughly
intertwined. These two sides of the music business are exciting and
extremely lucrative. We hope you’re excited after reading this — stay
tuned for Part 2 and all the updates at Symphonic coming up!

PART #2
COMING SOON!

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